Knights avenge first round loss to Mantas

Mount Carmel School 1 sought revenged against Saipan Southern High School and got it after cruising to an 84-64 victory in their game in the 2018-2019 Commonwealth Coalition of Private Schools Association Varsity Basketball League last Friday at Koblerville Gymnasium.

After the Manta Rays gutted out a close win over the Knights (54-48) in their first meeting last Feb. 27, the latter came back with vengeance in mind and dominated the former from the opening tip to the final stage of the match.

Mikel Johnson and Matthew Richardson delivered for Mt. Carmel 1 in the first period, as they scored 9 and 8 points, respectively, to lift their team to a 31-14 lead. Chioni Dela Cruz also had a good start in the opening frame after making 6 fastbreak points.

Down by 17, Christopher Lagmay and Rafael Ordona tried to spark a Saipan Southern comeback after swishing home one triple apiece to start the second canto. However, the Knights fired back and scored 21 points in that quarter, as they had firm control of the game by the halftime break, 52-26. Richardson continued his strong play after drilling 6 points, while Johnson and Keith Santos chipped in 4 apiece.

When the game resumed, the Knights pulled away from the Mantas even more, behind Richardson’s 14-point outburst in the third quarter. Richardson, who missed their first duel against Saipan Southern due to injury, scored MCS’ first 10 points in the penultimate canto to cause more problems to the Mantas’ defense. Knights captain Angelo Factor put the cherry on top in the third canto by knocking a 3-pointer and a contested layup.

With the win, MCS upped their record to 7-3, which is good for third place in the division. Despite the loss, the Manta Rays retained the No. 2 spot in the rankings with their 8-2 mark.

Meanwhile, Kagman High School hosted MCS 2 and did not disappoint, as the former leaned on their reserves for the easy win, 58-34.

The Ayuyus employed a balanced attack, as Anthony Agulto, Cris Sacdalan, and Edward Reyes scored 8 markers apiece. Presley Augustino, Koy Kaipat, and Juan Quitano added 6 points each to help power their team to victory No. 11 out of 12 games. Kagman remains on top of the team standings, while the Knights 2 tumbled to a 3-8 card and are now tied with Grace Christian Academy for sixth place.

In other results, Agape Christian School 1 blew out Agape 2, 124-30.

Kobe Yang, Silas Xu, Jonathan Xiong, and Peter Wang tallied 26, 24, 23, and 21 points, respectively to hammer Agape 2. Two more Agape 1 players finished in double figures with James Jing logging 11 and and Jerry Yuan recording 10.

Agape 1 now has a 6-3 mark, while Agape 2 fell to a 0-11 slate.

In today’s games, GCA’s girls and boys teams will host the Lady Knights and MCS 1 at Navy Hill, while SSHS and MCS 2 will face off at the Koblerville Gymnasium. Over at the Agape’s court, ACS 1 will be battling SIS and ACS 2 will be lacing up against Kagman.

MCS 84—Richardson 28, Johnson 17, Factor 10, Dela Cruz 8, Park 7, Santos 6, Evangelista 4, Kiser 2, Ong 1, Tabora 1.
SSHS 64—Contreras 16, Lagmay 11, Ordona 9, Perez 8, Villarin 8, Deleon Guerrero 6, Atalig 2, Calage 2, Matalog 2.
Scoring by quarters: 31-14, 52-26, 73-47, 83-64.